Bill Cosby trial Day 4: He's confronted with his own words and admissions

Jurors at Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial have heard excerpts from the comedian's lurid, decade-old deposition, but explosive sections about him obtaining quaaludes and giving them to women before sex are expected Friday. (June 9)
AP

NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Bill Cosby was confronted Thursday with his own words — what he told police in 2005, what he said in a civil deposition — on Day 4 of his sexual assault trial over an encounter with accuser Andrea Constand in 2004 .

Cosby's trial on charges he drugged and molested Constand at his nearby home resumes Friday with a continuation of testimony about his deposition, plus the possibility that a toxicology expert and an expert on victims of sex crimes will be called by prosecutors to testify.

As excerpts of what Cosby has said at various times about the Constand encounter were read to jurors, Cosby, 79, shifted in his chair at the defense table, at times listening closely while other times resting his head in his hand.

Late in the afternoon, prosecutors introduced Cosby's damaging civil deposition, taken after Constand sued him, to jurors by calling Montgomery County Det. James Reape to talk about what happened in the summer of 2015 when the long-sealed deposition was released by a judge. Reape said that allowed police to reopen an investigation of the matter, abandoned in 2005 by the then-district attorney for lack of evidence.

Reape read Cosby’s statements in the deposition in which he described how his romantic interest in Constand sparked the moment he saw her at Temple University, where she managed the basketball team. Cosby said chose to pursue a friendship with Constand that could later become something more intimate after he gained her “permission.”

“I can’t (tell her) right away. I don’t know her,” he said in his deposition. (Cosby often spoke in the present tense during the deposition while describing events that happened a year earlier.)

One evening in 2003, Cosby invited Constand to his home and made a move on her, putting his hand near her waist “into the area that is somewhere between permission and rejection.”

“I feel that Andrea has a glow about her sexual moment,” Cosby said during the deposition, read aloud by Reape. But Constand told Cosby to stop. He did so, he said. She then left, but not angrily, he added.

In the 2004 encounter at issue in the trial, Cosby described giving Constand Benadryl to help her "relax," and then "necking" with her on the couch. Cosby said in his deposition he then went to his room to sleep, leaving Constand on the coach. Hours later when she left, Constand gave no indication that anything “negative” happened, Cosby said, according to the account read by Reape.

Cosby says his 2004 encounter with Constand was consensual; she says he drugged and molested her.

Earlier on Thursday, Cheltenham Township Police Sgt. Richard Schaffer testified about his interview of Cosby in 2005 after Constand reported the encounter. Cosby told him he did not have sex with Constand the night in question nor at any other time. Instead, he said, they engaged in petting and she did not rebuff him.

Schaffer said Cosby told him he had both a romantic and social relationship with Constand at the time. He said that when she arrived at his house that night, she complained of tension and trouble sleeping, so he retrieved Benadryl pills that he said helped him when he had trouble sleeping. He said he gave them to Constand, who did not ask what the pills were, according to the account.

They moved to his couch and began kissing, and he fondled her body, according to Cosby’s account. Was Constand conscious, Schaffer asked Cosby, according to the account. “Yes,” Cosby replied.

During his cross-examination of Schaffer, lead defense attorney Brian McMonagle focused on discrepancies in Constand's accounts about the date of the encounter and noted that she crossed out sentences in her sworn statement. Questioned about these, Schaffer said, “She was mistaken, sir.”

At times during cross-examination, Schaffer sounded like an advocate for Constand. When McMonogle asked Schaffer whether Cosby in his account had insisted that Constand was not incapacitated after she took the pills he gave her, the police sergeant answered, “That was his version of that story.”

McMonagle moved on to a previous encounter between Cosby and Constand when, according to Cosby's account, he lifted up her shirt, causing her to pull away from him. “And he obliged?” asked McMonagle.

“Yeah, he was a real gentleman,” Schaffer responded with sarcasm.

Some of the legal documents in Bill Cosby sex-assault trial are wheeled into courtroom in Norristown, Pa., on June 7, 2017.(Photo: Mark Makela, Pool Photo-USA TODAY NETWORK)

The prosecution team, led by District Attorney Kevin Steele and Assistant District Attorney Kristen Feden, are trying to bolster the 13-year-old case against Cosby by introducing what Cosby himself said during the various times he was questioned about Constand's accusations.

Cosby, 79, arrived at the courthouse Thursday accompanied by another pair of celebrities, actor/comedians Joe Torry and Lewis Dix. Cosby's wife, Camille, and their four daughters have stayed away so far but he has enlisted friends from his Hollywood career to support him, including former movie co-star Sheila Frazier on Wednesday and Keshia Knight Pulliam, who played his TV daughter on The Cosby Show, on Monday.

The jury is not expected to hear from Cosby at the trial; he has said he won't testify and as a defendant, he does not have to.

Prosecutors hope that Cosby's own words, given under oath, will help them prove Cosby allegedly followed a criminal pattern in his sexual behavior with women over four decades.

In the civil case deposition, Cosby acknowledged he acquired drugs, including the now-banned sedative quaaludes, to give to women he sought for sex. He also acknowledged he repeatedly engaged in sexual relationships with young women he met as one of the most popular and powerful men in Hollywood.

The civil case deposition had been sealed since the 2006 settlement of the suit but parts of it were released by a judge on a petition from the media at a time when dozens of women had gone public to accuse Cosby of being a serial rapist. Those accusers believe Cosby's words in the deposition back up their accusations.

But none of them have been able to pursue Cosby in criminal court, because of statutes of limitation, except for Constand, 44.

Constand, who testified on the stand for eight hours over two days, stuck to her story that she went to Cosby's home to meet him alone to discuss her career, that Cosby gave her pills he assured her they were harmless, and that she became nearly paralyzed — "frozen" — after she took them. As she lay helpless on his couch, he groped her breasts and vagina and placed her hand on his penis, she testified.

The Cosby defense team, led by McMonagle and Angela Agrusa, tried to raise doubts about discrepancies in details of her story, including the date of the encounter, and pressed her on why she remained in contact with Cosby after the encounter, via dozens of phone calls. Constand dismissed the discrepancies as mistakes of memory (she didn't report the encounter to authorities until a year later) and explained the phone calls as related to her job managing the Temple University basketball team.

Bill Cosby walks out after his guilty verdict was announced at the Montgomery County Courthouse April 26, 2018 in Norristown, Pa. Cosby was found guilty on all accounts after a former Temple University employee alleges that the entertainer drugged and molested her in 2004 at his home in suburban Philadelphia. More than 40 women have accused the 80 year old entertainer of sexual assault. MARK MAKELA/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA

Comedian Bill Cosby watches as a protester is tackled by sheriff's officers as Cosby arrives for the first day his second sexual assault trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa. April 9, 2018. DOMINICK REUTER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Sonia Ossorio, center, president of the National Organization for Women of New York, leads a group in protest, after Bill Cosby arrives for his sexual assault trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse, April 9, 2018, in Norristown, Pa. COREY PERRINE/AP

Legal documents are wheeled into the Montgomery County Courthouse pre-dawn before the first day of the Bill Cosby sexual assault retrial April 9, 2018 in Norristown, Pa. A former Temple University employee alleges that the entertainer drugged and molested her in 2004 at his home in suburban Philadelphia. More than 40 women have accused the 80 year old entertainer of sexual assault. MARK MAKELA/GETTY IMAGES

Kathleen Bliss, center, lawyer for actor and comedian Bill Cosby, not shown, arrives for his sexual assault trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse on April 4, 2018, in Norristown, Pa. Pool photo by Corey Perrine

Bill Cosby, center, walks back to courtroom C with spokesperson Andrew Wyatt, left, from a break during his sexual assault trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse on April 4, 2018, in Norristown, Pa. Pool photo by Corey Perrine

Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill walks to courtroom C before Bill Cosby arrives for his sexual assault trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse on April 4, 2018, in Norristown, Pa. Pool photo by Corey Perrine

Tom Mesereau, center, lawyer for actor and comedian Bill Cosby, not shown, speaks to other legal defense members as they walk back to courtroom C after a break in the Cosby sexual assault trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse on April 4, 2018, in Norristown, Pa. Pool photo by Corey Perrine

Protestors with Black Women's Blueprint demonstrate outside the Montgomery County Courthouse during jury selection in the Bill Cosby sexual assault retrial April 2, 2018 in Norristown, Pa. A former Temple University employee alleges that the entertainer drugged and molested her in 2004 at his home in suburban Philadelphia. More than 40 women have accused the 80 year old entertainer of sexual assault. Mark Makela, Getty Images

Protestors with Black Women's Blueprint create a mosaic while demonstrating outside the Montgomery County Courthouse during jury selection in the Bill Cosby sexual assault retrial April 2, 2018 in Norristown, Pa. A former Temple University employee alleges that the entertainer drugged and molested her in 2004 at his home in suburban Philadelphia. More than 40 women have accused the 80 year old entertainer of sexual assault. Mark Makela, Getty Images

Actor/ stand-up comedian Bill Cosby arrives to the first day of Jury Selection for his sexual assault retrial at the Montgomery County Courthouse on April 2, 2018 in Norristown, Pa. Gilbert Carrasquillo, WireImage

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele, right, arrives for jury selection in the sexual assault retrial for actor and comedian Bill Cosby, at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa. on April 2, 2018. Pool Photo by Brendan McDermid

Prosecution documents in the case against actor and comedian Bill Cosby are wheeled into the courtroom for a pretrial hearing for his sexual assault trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa. on March 30, 2018. Cosby's lawyers and prosecutors will argue over the number of his accusers allowed to testify at his sexual assault retrial. Dominick Reuter, AFP/Getty Images

Actor and comedian Bill Cosby boards the elevator after a pretrial hearing for his sexual assault trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa. on March 30, 2018. Dominick Reuter, AFP/Getty Images

Actor and comedian Bill Cosby returns to the courtroom for a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa. on March 30, 2018.
Dominick Reuter, AFP/Getty Images

Actor and comedian Bill Cosby, 2nd from left, walks past journalists filing stories during a recess in the pretrial hearing for his sexual assault trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., March 29, 2018. Cosby's lawyers and prosecutors will argue over the number of his accusers allowed to testify at his sexual assault retrial. Dominick Reuter, AFP/Getty Images

Actor and comedian Bill Cosby, left, leaves the courtroom with his local attorney Lane Vines during a recess of a pretrial hearing for his sexual assault trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., on March 29, 2018.
Dominick Reuter, AFP/Getty Images

Bill Cosby departs the Montgomery County Courthouse on March 6, 2018, in Norristown, Pa. Cosby's lawyers and prosecutors will argued over the number of his accusers allowed to testify at his sexual assault retrial. Don Emmert, AFP/Getty Images

Bill Cosby leaves the Montgomery County Courthouse on June 17, 2017 in Norristown, Pa., after a mistrial was declared in his sexual assault case, 11 days after the trial began and following 52 hours of deliberations. Kevin Hagen/Getty Images

Bill Cosby after a mistrial in his sexual assault case, with his lawyers Brian McMonagle and Angela Agrusa, and his publicist Andrew Wyatt, at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa. Matt Rourke, AP

Bill Cosby gives a thumbs-up to supporters as he gets in his car outside the courthouse on Day 5 of his sexual assault trial, after the prosecution rested its case, on June 9, 2017 in Norristown, Pa. The defense will present its case starting June 12. Matt Rourke, AP

Bill Cosby arrived for the first day of his sexual assault trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., on June 5, 2017. Take a look at some of the other key players at the trial. Matt Rourke, AP

In addition to his lawyers, bodyguards and assistants, Cosby arrived for the first day of his trial accompanied by Keshia Knight Pulliam, who played his daughter Rudy Huxtable on 'The Cosby Show' and has defended him for two years. Matt Slocum, AP

Attorney Gloria Allred represents dozens of Cosby accusers, including a witness who testified at the trial that he drugged and assaulted her in 1996. Allred has been at the trial every day since Day 1, on June 5, 2017. Mark Makela

Some Cosby accusers are attending the trial even though they are not involved in the proceeding, including Therese Serignese, a nurse from Florida who has accused Cosby of drugging and raping her in a Las Vegas hotel in about 1975. She is now suing him in civil court. LUCAS JACKSON, AFP/Getty Images

Two other Bill Cosby accusers also are attending his trial: Lili Bernard, (L), who says Cosby drugged and raped her in a Las Vegas hotel in about 1975, and Victoria Valentino, who says Cosby drugged and raped her in 1970, outside the courtroom on Day 4 of the trial, June 8, 2017. EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ, AFP/Getty Images

Locked out of the courthouse, media cameras gathered outside to capture Bill Cosby arriving for the first day of his sexual assault trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., June 5, 2017. Matt Rourke, AP

The Allegheny County Courthouse in Pittsburgh where jury selection began in the Bill Cosby sex-assault trial. Lawyers will spend the week picking a dozen jurors and six alternates who will be taken to suburban Philadelphia and sequestered for the duration of the trial starting June 5. DON EMMERT, AFP/Getty Images

The man prosecuting Bill Cosby, District Attorney Kevin Steele of Montgomery County, arrives at the Allegheny County Courthouse in Pittsburgh for jury selection on May 22, 2017. DON EMMERT, AFP/Getty Images

Bill Cosby has spent the last 15 months arriving for and leaving pretrial hearings for his pending sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., on April 3, 2017. CLEM MURRAY, AFP/Getty Images

Celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, arriving for a Bill Cosby pre-trial hearing in Norristown, Pa., represents dozens of women who have accused Cosby of sexual assault, including some of 13 accusers who may get to testify to his alleged "prior bad acts" at his forthcoming trial on criminal charges. KENA BETANCUR, AFP/Getty Images

Bill Cosby seemed to be in a good mood, laughing as he arrived at the Montgomery County Courthouse for another hearing on the aggravated indecent assault charges against him, on Sept. 6, 2016. Dominick Reuter, AFP/Getty Images

Accompanied by lawyers and bodyguards, Bill Cosby arrives for the latest pretrial hearing in his criminal sex-assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., July 7, 2016. Cosby is appealing a decision to send the case to trial before his lawyers can question the accuser under oath. Matt Rourke, AP

Cosby is accused of drugging and molesting Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee now living in Canada. Constand, here in December 2015, did not testify in person at the preliminary hearing for Cosby on May 24. Marta Iwanek, AP

Starting in the fall of 2014, comedian Bill Cosby, 78, has been accused by about 60 women of drugging and sexuallyassaultingthem in episodesdating as far back as the 1960s. On Dec. 30, 2015, he was officially charged in Norristown, Pa., for an alleged assault in 2004. KENA BETANCUR, AFP/Getty Images

Cosby arrives on Dec. 30, 2015, to the Court House in Elkins Park, Pa. to face charges of aggravated indecent assault. Cosby was arraigned over an incident that took place in 2004 -- the first criminal charge filed against the actor after dozens of women claimed abuse. Kena Betancur, AFP/Getty Images

Bill Cosby walks past the press upon arrival for his arraignment, Wednesday, in Elkins Park, Pa. Cosby was charged Wednesday with drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his home 12 years ago. Matt Rourke, AP

Bill Cosby leaves the Court House in Elkins Park, Pa. after a 10 minute arraignment on charges of aggravated indecent assault. Cosby pleaded not guilty,posted $1 million bail, and turned over his passport as a condition for being released on bail. Kena Betancur, AFP/Getty Images

"The evidence is strong and sufficient enough to proceed with the charges," Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said at a news conference. The decision by his boss, District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman, reverses a decision by her predecessor who had ruled that there was not enough evidence to warrant an arrest. AP